June 2
I drove thru a lot of “Big Sky” in Montana
and made my goal of Placid Lake State Park
near Seeley Lake, Montana and the last 60 miles was through
beautiful valleys with wide open grazing land and I kept climbing into Alpine
type forests and lake
The lake the Park is on reminds me of the Boundary Water
Canoe Area in northern Minnesota.
I’m told there is a pair of Loons on the lake and I’ve spent some time sitting
on the shoreline in hopes of hearing them. No luck so far. I had an extra night
to spend somewhere before Glacier NP so it will be here since it’s so great. I
met a special lady and made a new friend, thanks Lois for being so kind. Drop
me a note at dave.doub@gmail.com or
comment on my blog. I’ll never forget the Seeley Lake
area, its special. I had picked out that spot last year as a good intermediate
spot on the way to Glacier and after seeing it I know I was drawn there for a
reason.
I setup the antenna for my Ham Radio for the first time on
the trip and had conversations with folks in Alabama
and Arizona.
I’ll try for Europe tonight then head for
Glacier tomorrow. I have some other entertainment available this evening. I
brought my Sirius satellite radio with me and I have a hookup in the camper and
truck. This evening Jimmy Buffett is playing in Houston and the Margaritaville channel
broadcasts every concert live and as an almost 40 year Parrot head I’ll be
listening. Maybe I’ll make some Boat Drinks to go with Taco night!
June 3
Last night I was successful with my ham gear in reaching
Europe, I spoke with Alex in Belgrade,
Yugoslavia. Not
bad for a portable antenna but it got better this morning around 8am MT I spoke
with Wayne in NEW ZEALAND!!! That made my day, he
said I was weak but he could hear me so my little setup works wonderfully. The
road north to Glacier was a treat through Alpine north woodsy terrain and
numerous glacially craved lakes and at times I had snow capped mountains to my
left and right. I love this type of country, makes me wonder why I live in Florida. Snow=Cold…duh.
Unfortunately when I reached Glacier NP in northwestern Montana it was socked in
with clouds and light rain that is forecast to continue through Thursday and be
heavy at times. The temps aren’t bad with highs near 60 and lows in the 40’s
but my hiking plans look all wet…LOL. The Going to the Sun hiway is only
partially opened from both the east and west sides and with the clouds we have
now the views are crappy. I may find somewhere else to go before heading to Seattle where my cousin
lives and Linda flies into on the 14th. I spoke with her today and
she was in the yard in Jax cleaning up the debris left by last weeks Tropical
Storm and it was hot and humid and I’m not missing that weather.
June 4
The weather looked awful this morning with low clouds
hanging around the lake and the mountains are totally socked in with occasional
light rain showers. But after making breakfast the sun started peeking thru and
the clouds retreated so I’m off to do some hiking at what is currently the end
of the Going to the Sun hiway on the west side of the Park. It goes basically
east/west over the continental divide thru high mountains and glacially carved
valleys and it’s been dubbed Americas Alps and I can confirm it looks like them
since I was in the Alps twice camping when I was a kid living in Italy. The road
was completed in 1932 and is about 50 miles long but I can only go 14 miles
from the west right now due to a combination of road work and plowing
operations to remove the winter snow. I hope that coming from the east will
have more open, I’ll know in a few days when I head over that way and have to
drive south around the Park.
I hiked one of the most popular trails to Avalanche Lake,
5 miles roundtrip and 550 feet up then down. The lake is surrounded on 3 sides
by steep mountains and the center mountain has a glacier up on it that you
can’t see from the lake but the waterfalls make its presence know.
I hope the weather is ok tomorrow for a trip north to Bowman Lake
which is on the west side of the Park and only about 25 miles south of the
Canadian border. I expect it to be a more remote/quiet hiking area and as such
my bear awareness has to be top notch. I have my “bear bells” as well as my
bear pepper spray, a very strong mixture just for bears and usually very
effective.
June 5
The trip to Bowman
Lake was great except for
the weather. It was heavy overcast and as I started hiking it was misting and
that was actually due to my being in the clouds hanging around Bowman Lake.
On the way there you pass thru the little community of
Polebridge , a non-electric spot and the last “town” from there to the Canadian
border. The Polebridge Mercantile is a must stop and they are famous for their
home baked items. The sticky bun with nuts was to die for! The Mercantile has a
long history and is documented quite a bit on the Web.
The road to the lake from there is rough and narrow but the
campground at the lake is my kind of place but taking the trailer was a no-no
on those roads. I had been reading about Bowman Lake
for a few years and was going come hell or high water. I was hoping for some
solitude and lack of visitors and I got it. I hiked about 4 miles of shoreline
and for the first 2 hours saw no one but a Black Bear who was coming down the
trail at me. I was doing the right stuff by ringing my bear bells and calling
out and when he heard and saw me he did a 180 and ran the other way. I also had
my bear spray on my hip and I’d been practicing my quickdraw. I saw no
grizzlies but a few deer and a Ptarmigan. On the way back to the camper I saw a
momma Black Bear and her 2 cubs along the road.
I did a short drive to the Hungry Horse Dam south of the
park. The Dam is over 500 feet high and creates a lake about 30 miles long in
mountainous terrain. It’s also a hydro power plant.
About then it started raining and didn’t stop all night. I
had already decided to bugout the next morning due to the weather and it was
still raining when I left at 8:30am. The drive to the east side of Glacier NP
goes thru mountains and has a pass over the Continental Divide above 5000 feet.
As I climbed I could see the snow level coming to meet me and I began to think
of turning around and heading south but I really want to see Many Glacier
again.
Once on the east side of the mountains the wind was fierce
and towing was not fun plus the temp dropped. As you come down the east side of
the mountains a dramatic change occurs as you get into the drier zone the
alpine trees disappear and rolling plains appear.
The east side is the Blackfeet Nation who sold their share
of the land that is now Glacier NP to the Feds in 1885, they consider the park
land still theirs and scared. I agree it is scared and I have no doubt they got
screwed in the deal. By the time I
reached Many Glacier CG it was in the 30’s and the snow was blowing and the
wind howling at 30 to 50 mph bending the trees. I’m sitting in the camper with
the heater trying to warm it up and the wind is rockin me! There are only a
half dozen campers here and I do believe all of us are NUTS. The forecast is for
3 to 6 inches above 5000 feet and the campground is at 4900 and more rain
tomorrow. Looks like I’m back to a thermal undie night and lots of hot cocoa.
Dinner will be something in the oven so I can enjoy the heat. The snow isn’t
sticking to the ground….. yet. I paid for 2 nights and am betting on Mother
Nature not letting me down.
You may have noticed that I don’t have either bed down on
the camper. Since I’m by myself and I’m in such prime bear country it’s easier
to sleep on the Dinette and be a hard sided camper, otherwise I have to store
my food either in the cab of the truck or in a bear food box provided at the
site. Either way is a pain. On the way in I saw a grizzly bear about 150 feet
off the road and it’s the same road we saw one on as we left the Park 20 years
ago. Another advantage is the camper is easier to keep warm without the beds
down and here on the east side of Glacier that means something, 32 degrees at
9pm. The photos of inside the camper are with beds folded up and I’ve got one
of the heated mattresses on the collapsed Dinette area but with the slideout
out I’ve still got plenty of room for one. There’s a 3 burner stove, small oven
(Pizza), a microwave and refrig with a small freezer compartment. The toilet
area has a shower and sink. Enough goodies to make camping comfortable compared
to what we used to do years ago, especially when I used to go backpacking. It
turns out the only thing opened here at Many Glacier is the campground. I was
looking forward to seeing the old Lodge again that was built by the Great
Northern Railroad. No store, no nothing. I’m attaching a link from one of my
SPOT messages that will take you to a map of where I’m at.
myspot
Latitude:48.84816
Longitude:-114.18614
GPS location Date/Time:06/05/2012 16:32:39 EDT
Message:This is my check-in from Spot. All is well.
Click the link below to see where I am located.
http://fms.ws/88H-m/48.84816N/
June 7
Cloudy this morning so I’m cooking a nice breakfast and all
of a sudden I see sunshine and a bit of blue sky and by the time I’m done with
breakfast and cleaning it and me up the weather is gorgeous. That bet I made
paid off. I hiked about 4 miles on the Swiftcurrent Pass
trail to a lake and a very nice waterfall. This place is just awesome.
Then later I headed for the eastern end of the Going to the
Sun hiway and the St. Marys Visitor Center. The weather forecast is calling for
more rain tonight and tomorrow and sure enough around 5pm high clouds rolled in
and made the views poor. I did get a neat photo of a snow avalanche that happen
either last night or today. A Ranger
told me that the higher elevations got 1 ½ feet of new snow in the last 36
hours.
I’m sitting by my campfire typing todays update and it’s now
heavy overcast and its 9:30pm. I’m now high enough in Latitude that evening
daylight is extended some. I suspect it will be light until 10:30pm. The last
time we were here we continued north into Alberta, Canada and traveled thru
Banff and then up what is known as the Icefield Parkway thru the heart of the
Canadian Rockies up to Jasper, Alberta. We camped in one of their National
Parks that is a prime Elk calving area and they were everywhere. The second day
there was July 1st which is Canada Day, the equivalent of our July 4th
so of course there would be fireworks. We asked where and when and got the
“after dark” response. Up there at that time of year after dark was 11:30pm!!
In spite of the weather I maximized the time I had and
managed to get in 13 miles of hiking in the last 4 days. It’s much less than I
had expected but I had hope to be able to access some of the high country.
I’m planning on leaving here tomorrow if the rain comes as
expected and head toward Spokane,
Washington and get to a Discount
Tire store in 2 or 3 days. As I was leaving the Grand Tetons I lost another
trailer tire, one of the Goodyear Marathons and it’s also time to replace the
truck tires. Tomorrow starts week 10 of the trip and I’ve passed the 9000 mile
mark and at the rate I’m going my estimate of 15000 for the trip is low. I’ve
found that living in a small space is not a burden and I could do this for a
longer time if I had the financial resources. We have a 19 inch widescreen TV
and DVD player that can run off the inverter and I recorded numerous TV shows
and Movies to bring along but I have yet to watch one. I don’t miss TV and have
only hooked it up for local viewing in a few of the cities we’ve been in. So a
cabin in the woods away from the BS of todays world would suit me fine! And
after working with phone systems for 30+ years…… no phone!
June 8
As I was hitching up the camper this morning it started to
rain so I had only a few regrets about leaving Glacier. It’s very special and
if any of you get the chance to see it do not hesitate. The drive toward Spokane was a bit long
but it’s important I get the tires taken care of and Discount stores are closed
on Sunday so I’m pushing to get in the area today. I’m taking Route 2 thru the
heart of northwest Montana
and it has some beautiful country with Lakes, Rivers and snowcapped mountains.
I’ve picked out a KOA campground about 30 miles north of Spokane and I utilized
McDonalds again to find a Discount Tire store and call them to arrange for them
to have what I need. It turned out to be a long day, over 10 hours on the road
but the Little Diamond Lake KOA is one of the best commercial campgrounds I’ve
seen and I’m a big critic of commercial setups and try to stay away from them.
The weather improved today at least for my drive time but it started to rain
again after dark. I met 2 guys from the Netherlands who’ve been touring
National Parks in a 31 ft motorhome they rented. Like me they had just come
from Glacier and had left to escape the rain and snow. We may have seen each other
before now since their list of Parks is almost identical to where Linda and I
have been. It’s great to see folks from other countries taking the time to come
here and enjoy our Parks. Makes me appreciate them even more.
June 9
Raining heavily this morning and my drive to Spokane and the tire
store is yucky. I’ll be glad to get out of this pattern but I hear it’s the
same if not worse at home. The folks at Discount Tire took care of me once
again and I’ve got to give them a plug. If you want exceptional service and
competitive prices go see them. I’ve had 3 trailer tires blow and they have
replaced 2 based on the insurance I purchased and pro-rated the other and then
on the new truck tires I bought they gave me a pro-rated discount based on the
mileage. So I’ve now had 3 trailer and all 4 truck tires replaced for much less
than the cost of 4 new truck tires, I almost feel like I’m robbing them!! While
there I checked my brake pads and the rears are history and I’ll change them at
my Cousins place in Seattle
next week.
June 10
I’ve decided to head a bit south based on the weather
forecasts and come into the eastern side of the Cascades due east of Seattle. As I got into Spokane and headed west the weather turned nice for a
change and tonight I’m at Lake Wenatchee State Park
up in the mountains and about 100 miles east of Seattle. It’s a pretty nice spot and I think
I’ll spend 2 nights here and just chill tomorrow and reflect on just how
fortunate I am to be doing this trip. I wanted to find a National Forest site
and drove about 12 miles into a wilderness area in search of one on the map but
the road kept getting smaller and no campground was in site so I finally turned
around when I could and came back to the State Park.
June 11
I got rewarded with a beautiful blue sky today and after an overnight
temp around 38 it got up to the high 70’s and I got to wear shorts for the
first time in about a month. You folks in Florida would kill for these cool temps,
wouldn’t you? The lake here was glacier made long ago and it’s picturesque. I
thought I must be fairly high up based on the snow on the mountain tops but I
checked the GPS and I’m just under 2000 ft so I can only assume there must have
been a lot of snow for there to still be some. I’m sitting outside after making
sloppy joes for dinner but the mosquitoes are intense tonight even though I’ve
got myself surrounded by citronella candles, I’m may have to give in and head
inside. I was lazy today and hiked just a few miles and then got on the phone
to do some personal business which occasionally interferes with my adventure
but the real world does rear its ugly head now and then. Overall I’m am way out
of touch with what’s going on and I’m not really missing those things. I need
to stop and pinch myself though. I’ve been on the road long enough that I’m
starting to take this for granted and forget just how special this is. I know
many folks dream of doing something like this and that’s all it ever is, a
dream. I may have worked hard to reach goals that allow me to do this but I
need to be sure and never lose sight of how fortunate and blessed I am to be
here. I hope all of you get to live your dreams at some point in your life.
So it’s off to Seattle tomorrow and I just realized my losing track of
time caught up with me, I thought this was Tuesday so I’ll be getting into Seattle a day earlier
than I thought. I may have to see if the Mariners are at home and go catch a
baseball game or go ride some of the ferries and explore the islands west of Seattle and do some whale
watching.
As usual see the additional photos at https://picasaweb.google.com/103943218564105837637
.
Look at the posts for Glacier NP east and west, Placid Lake State Park and Lake Wenatchee State Park
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